The Quest for Will Solace
by Smile Life Away
Summary: When Apollo loses control of his Oracle, an unsanctioned quest begins. But does his mostly unremarkable child have what it takes? This isn't the kind of quest that will be written in the stars.
1. Jennifer FlirtsWith My Dad

**A/N: Thanks to mew for betaing :)**

**Disclaimer: I Own Nothing**

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Chapter One: Jennifer Flirts…With My Dad

"It's an impossible class, and Ms. Hillman is downright evil. I mean, she hates me! And you, Kayla, but mostly me." Chase threw up his hands as he spoke, but I was only half-listening as we headed for our lockers. He was right about Ms. Hillman, the beady-eyed orchestra teacher who thrived from torturing Chase and me, but I had heard the complaint so many times that it shuffled to the back of my mind where I kept all of my groans and nods. "I mean, it makes sense that she hates me. I can't play the bass to save my life, but you didn't even struggle when she made you fill in on the viola, and that's the alto clef! It just doesn't make sense. Maybe she just hates you because you're so good," he continued to ramble. "Or maybe it's something else; she gives me the creeps." He shuddered. "There's something off about her."

He stopped talking as we approached our lockers, but my mind began whirring at that moment. I had only caught the last part of his phrases "something off about her," but it reminded me of the chorus teacher that had gotten me kicked out of sixth grade and then tried to eat me. No one had believed me, except my mother, and her response had been to send me to New York and Camp Half-Blood where I now spend every summer.

I was there for a month before I was claimed by a golden arrow above my head, and then I was shuffled to the Apollo Cabin with over a dozen other campers. I loved it, of course. I always felt as though I belonged when I was at camp, but sometimes I missed the normalcy of home, and of course I missed my mom and I missed Chase, my best mortal friend.

That was how I had decided on the arrangement; summers at camp, school year at home - it made my mom happy, but it was dangerous too. Children of Apollo were not constantly hunted, but we were not ignored either. At best, we had really good singing voices, but at worst we were a real danger to the monsters. The problem was that our blood all smelled the same, and the monsters didn't like to take chances with us just in case the demigod they encountered was one that actually stood a fighting chance. If Chase was right, I might be in real danger; of course, he did tend to have an overactive imagination.

I started with my locker combination when I felt it, and I instantly reached in my backpack before stopping myself. The feeling beside me was warm but not dangerous. It reminded me of a summer day on the beach and my mother playing the cello. I turned and was faced with the back of a teenage boy who did not seem that many years older than me – maybe he was a senior. Of course, I couldn't see his face.

He leaned against Chase's locker, and my friend grumbled something about "McKessey." I looked around the boy and, sure enough, Jennifer McKessey was on the other side of him.

Jennifer was a senior and the student-body president. She was also Chase's biggest crush. As she talked to the boy, she fingered her dark curls and giggled. Her blue eyes sparkled and she jabbered on about her "daddy's Mercedes."

"Hey, Jennifer," I cut her off. "Could you and your friend scoot over? Chase can't get to his locker."

Jennifer's eyes fixated on mine, and her flirtatious demeanor instantly changed to one with which I was incredibly familiar. Her blue eyes seemed to say, "You're beneath me" - my mom's ex-boyfriend adored that look.

"You can wait, freshman," she spat.

The boy turned to me then, and I practically fell into Chase. He looked like Will, my half-brother from Camp Half-Blood. The boy had the same sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, cocky grin, and outdoorsy good looks. He was also just as tall as Will - around six feet. The only difference was that when I met his eyes I sensed power. Even though I had never met him before, I recognized him immediately.

"Da…"

He winked and stuck out his hand. "I'm Fred."

I shook it.

The feeling came back. The feeling of sunbathing on the beach and listening to my mother play the cello. The smell of the archery ranges at Camp Half-Blood, and Travis Stoll's smile.

I ripped my hand away.

"Kayla."

He smiled again - a smile that gleamed against the fluorescent lighting - and then he walked away with Jennifer following him.

"What was that?" Chase started to open his locker.

"I have no idea."

It was the truth. What was a god doing in a New Jersey high school, and why had he stopped to see me?

_He's weird like that_, I remembered Michael telling me once. _He'll just pop in to say hi and then you won't see him for ten years._

I opened my locker to see a backpack like the one on my back except attached to the black zipper hung a string of golden laurel and a note. Curiously, I reached for it.

_No need to thank me_

_A birthday gift for your quest_

_I will be watching_

"That's an awful haiku," Chase said as he leaned over and read it.

I ignored him and pulled the bag out of my locker. When I unzipped it there was nothing inside except my school books. With a shrug, I closed my locker again. Whatever was so important would be there when I got back. Pulling my math books out of my bag, I stuffed them in my locker before closing the door. Besides, my birthday was two weeks away.

"Ready for Ms. Hillman, Chase?" I asked.

"I'm never ready."

As we walked to class I forgot my previous trepidations about Ms. Hillman, but something else concerned me. The note had said "quest." Surely my dad knew I wasn't a year-round camper…but, then again, maybe he didn't. He'd never made any attempt to contact me before. There was no reason he would be knowledgeable of my comings and goings. Still, it disturbed me. I considered going back to retrieve the backpack but stopped myself. Whatever the problem was, it could wait until after class. After all, I kept a dagger in my backpack, just in case. I swung it around to check and was instantly shocked. Hanging from my black backpack was a string of golden laurel. The same backpack I had left in my locker had reappeared on my back.

My father's gift was magical.

I should not have been surprised, and I did not have time to be. A moment later Chase pushed open the door to the orchestra room and no one was there except a Ms. Hillman that did not look quite right.


	2. I Ride an Amphisbaena

**A/N: Thanks to mew for betaing :)**

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Chapter Two: I Ride an Amphisbaena

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"You're late," Ms. Hillman crooned when we entered.

We were not late, but that was not why I was concerned. Her beady eyes were rimmed in yellow, and there were four of them. It was not just her eyes that were showing doubles, though. She now had two heads and two necks. The longer I looked at her the more she morphed, her bones stretching until they cracked with a horrible noise and she revealed her true form.

She appeared to be a dragon, but that wasn't quite right. Her first head was the black head of a snake, and as she bore her teeth poisonous acid dripped from the canines. However, her second head sprouted from her tail. All four of the yellow eyes glowed, and for a moment I was frozen in horror.

Ms. Hillman was an amphisbaena. One bite from her would kill. I knew that monsters did not usually come after mortals, but my fear kicked in.

"Run, Chase!"

He obeyed, but in the wrong direction. Picking up a bass bow, he started towards the monster. I was not sure how much he could see through the mist, but I did know he was about to die.

Instinctively, I reached back for my quiver and realized it was waiting where my backpack had been and, moreover, my bow was in my hand. There was no time to consider the phenomenon, though, and I shot at one of the necks. The beast turned as if my arrows had been a minor annoyance, and then it turned back to Chase who swatted at the thing with his bow.

The serpent lunged for him, ready to bite as my mortal friend barely rolled out of the way.

Ms. Hillman came after him again as Chase scrambled behind the piano and began to bang her tail head against the wood as her other head went around the side to force him out or kill him in the process.

I took my chance.

Sprinting across the room, I jumped on the back of the monster and realized two things: one, the back of the serpent was slimy, and two, as I struggled to hang on to the one head, the other head had broken through the piano and was inches away from Chase.

I had to end this.

Reaching for two arrows, I notched them, aimed at the head closest to Chase, and shot. The arrows released a scream and the serpent turned. I realized they were sonic arrows a moment before they pierced the yellow eyes, releasing a blast.

I was thrown from the back of the amphisbaena, the windows shattered, and as I crashed into the school's MPA trophies, the serpent exploded into sand before that, too, was swept away.

I stumbled to be upright, dazed but still conscious, and went over to Chase. He was still alive and he did not look bitten, but his left ear was bleeding from the impact of the noise.

"I…I told you there was something wrong with her."

His laugh did not hide his fear.

Putting my arm around him, I helped him up, and together we pushed open the outer door of the orchestra room to avoid the hallways. Around us, other students were rushing from the building, and I turned back to see missing glass in all the window panes of the first floor of the high school. Police cars had started to gather around the school, lights flashing, and I readjusted Chase around my shoulder.

"Come on, we have to get out of here."

Even though I knew he wasn't in danger from monsters, it would have been cruel to leave him. He shook as he walked, even after he no longer needed my help, and eventually I made him stop.

We found a playground near a neighborhood in which neither one of us could afford to live in and took a seat on the swings. His ear was still bleeding and his eyes were panicked, but he did not bring attention to either one of those things. It was only then that I realized no one had come after us. The police had ignored us just as they had the other kids that had stumbled out of the adjoining rooms. I reached back for my arrows which was when I realized all that was there was a backpack. Swinging it off my shoulder, I unzipped it and inside were simply my school books.

"How'd you kill that…? What was -? What are you?" He finally settled on that question. His eyes were panicked, and he searched mine for answers. I wanted to ask him what he had seen, but the desperation made it clear it would be best to answer him first.

"I'm a half-"

_Snap!_ The sound cracked through the air, and suddenly Chase was staring forward like a zombie.

"Now, now, little sister, what are the rules about mortals?"

I looked up. Before me stood Aristaeus, my half-brother, and a minor god. And I could not think of a single reason why he had come to see me.


	3. My Immortal Half-Brother Steals a Cab

**A/N: Thanks to ERidg17 for betaing**

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Chapter Three: My Immortal Half-Brother Steals a Cab

"You're going to go to the police and tell them you heard a pipe burst and that triggered the shattering of the windows. And remember, we never existed."

Chase bolted away, and only after he was gone did I realize the implications of what had transpired. My best friend – my only friend outside of camp – would forget I ever existed.

"Don't look so depressed." Aristaeus turned to me. "We've got a camp to get to."

I didn't respond, but I obeyed and followed him as he walked away.

Aristaeus, besides being my half-brother, was also a minor god. He specialized in agriculture, cattle, and bees, but he was also a decent hunter and his olives were to die for, or so I'd heard from Austin. This was my first time actually meeting him, but I knew who he was from the way he smiled and the power in his voice.

He wore dirty overalls and a hunting hat. His skin appeared sunburned, and he had ebony-colored eyes.

"Why are you here?" I dared the question. "And why was Dad here?"

Aristaeus sighed. "Our father does not always give reasons for his comings and goings," but he sounded as if he knew Apollo's exact reasoning. "As it stands, your little gift has less to do with your upcoming birthday and more to do with –"

"A quest," I interrupted, and he nodded.

"So, there are some brains beneath all that blonde hair." He smiled, and I got the feeling there was something behind his condescending attitude. Something I had unwittingly done to cause it. "Anyway," he continued walking, "you have the basic pack."

His tone bothered me more than it should have. While I knew that our father had many children, it had never occurred to me that we were ranked in some order of importance. But clearly, Aristaeus believed we were, and more importantly, I was somewhere near the bottom. I was the daughter whose birthday presents were only given so that she could perform a task for her father.

"What do you mean 'the basic package'?" I ignored the quest for a moment. After all, the backpack was intriguing, and I still couldn't understand it.

"Oh, you know – ah, here we are."

He came to a sudden halt in front of a donut shop where a taxi driver was climbing out of his cab. With god-like speed, my half-brother dashed forward and plucked the keys out of his hand, dragging me with him by my elbow. He shoved me in the back, and we were speeding away before the man became conscious of what had happened.

"Mortals," he scoffed making it clear he had no respect for them, even the one who had saved my life. I thought about Chase again, and how he had fought a monster he probably couldn't really see, and the only thanks he had received was forgetting.

"What do you mean, basic package?" I asked again, not giving up on my inquiry.

"Oh gods, Kayla," he smirked at the redundancy of his statement. "This backpack contains everything you need, and it changes as you need it. But like I said, it's the basic package. You've got three settings; your school bag, your weapons, and your medicine bag. You also have your three types of arrows; celestial bronze, sonic, and light."

"And those are what I need them to be?"

He chuckled. "No, those are labeled." He made a quick turn and pressed harder on the gas. "Like I said, it's pretty basic, but it has everything you'll need for your quest, and if you die, our father will get his stuff back. Possibly pass it on to another one of his half-blood children." I knew he added that last part on for his own satisfaction, but it bothered me. There wasn't a reason for him to be jealous of my quest; he was a god, and gods didn't quest. Furthermore, there wasn't a reason for him to be jealous of _me_. It was clear that our father had never taken an interest in me. After all, I had met him for the first time today.

Then it hit me.

"What's this quest about?"

Aristaeus slammed on the brakes.

"Our father sent Will on a quest. He didn't come back. So, he's sending you to find him." He turned off the car. "We're here."

Entering a summer camp in the middle of March with a sulky god and an abandoned taxi outside the gates may have been met with skepticism somewhere else, but at Camp Half-Blood no one so much as turned a head. Aristaeus left me when we made it through the gate, and I walked to my cabin alone.

I didn't expect anyone from the Apollo Cabin to be there in March, so I was not surprised when I was met with just Austin lying on his bed and shooting darts at a poster of Justin Bieber across the room. The poster belonged to my half-sister Lily. She was twelve and had gotten in many fights with Austin over the merits of "pop" music. Judging by the look of the poster, he considered himself the winner.

When he saw me, he stopped his game.

"Will's gone," he explained. "Dad wants him back."

"I know. He's sending me to get him."

"You!" Austin groaned and collapsed back on his pillow. "Why do you get to go?" The groan turned into a whine. "I'm older than you, and I've been here longer!"

Technically, he was right. He was two months older than me and he had arrived at camp five weeks before I had. Apparently though, our father did not respect seniority.

I shrugged. "Maybe he has a reason."

"Yeah, well, I don't trust it and I'm coming with you." If I hadn't known Austin as well as I did, I would have thought he was just annoyed about not getting chosen, but I did know him. We had been claimed together, we'd fought together, and we both had the joint experience of never having met our father. (Of course, now that wasn't quite true). Austin wanted to come because he was afraid for me.

"It's not even a formal quest yet. It might never be," I protested.

"It doesn't have to be," he corrected. "Dad wants this. Will's missing… so he must have been after something important. That's why –"

Aristaeus interrupted us with laughter. He stepped in the cabin, and kept laughing. He only stopped when he took a seat on the bed and propped his feet up on the bed.

"It must be nice to be a favorite. To drive the sun god's Maserati, and have him pop in on your birthday. Of course, you guys wouldn't know." He smiled again, but this time the smile was twisted. "Your - _our_ father doesn't care if _you_die," he pointed at me, "and he doesn't care if _you _die," he pointed at Austin, "but he's a little attached to a certain brother of yours, so I'd get going."

And with that, he evaporated into the air. There was no burst of light as he took his true godly form, he just vanished.

"He's jealous," Austin passed off Aristaeus's comment and went back to throwing darts.

"Yeah," I agreed. But I wasn't sure that was the only reason he had spoken. There was some truth to his words. Apollo had never been known for following the rules; it wouldn't be surprising if he chose to play favorites now. Still, something tugged at my stomach. Something that told me that I was wrong and this quest, _Will's_ quest was extremely important. At least, it was important to our father. And if Will had failed, maybe Austin and I were his last chance.


	4. I Dream of the Oracle

**A/N: Thanks to ERidg17 for betaing**

Chapter Four: I Dream of the Oracle

The dinner pavilion wasn't nearly as full as it was during the summer. Still, there was a nice supply of campers. But it was a stark contrast to what I was used to. Of the twenty cabins at Camp Half-Blood, only the Ares and Hermes cabins had their summer attendance. Normally, our cabin would be the largest. Since the war, the Apollo Cabin had distinguished itself as the largest one, once the liquidation of the Hermes Cabin began. Now that the gods were claiming their children, Hermes wasn't quite so crowded and our twenty-five person cabin seemed much larger.

In general, I suppose I should've expected the smaller numbers. Things had been pretty calm since the war ended, with the only real activity being new campers, and even they were less frequent in mid-March. That was why it was so strange to think that Will was on a quest.

I dumped my cheese in the flames — because I was allergic to it anyway — and didn't bother with a prayer to my father.

"For the gods."

There. Ambiguity would show him how I felt about his quest, his gifts, and his son, Aristaeus, even if it didn't earn me any 'favorite daughter' points.

"We have to build Will's shroud." Austin explained when I came to sit at the table. "He left two weeks ago, but they waited because Chiron knew we were coming."

"Does Chiron also know where he went?" I munched at the bread and took a sip of Coke.

Austin shrugged. "He didn't tell me. Besides, Mr. D said there's not going to be a quest to find a lost quester. He says that Dad deserves what's coming for him."

"And what's that?"

He shrugged again. "I suppose that's the big secret."

We ate the rest of the meal in silence, and my mind whirred with the question of what uncertainty could bother an all-knowing god of Olympus. It didn't make sense. There was a part of me that wanted to believe Aristaeus's claim, but there was the obvious flaw to wonder about.

If our father was _so_ concerned with Will's well-being, he wouldn't be sending me to save him. If he _cared_ that much, he would just break the rules and save Will himself.

I was still fixated on my thought process when dinner ended and Austin grumbled, "I hate Archery Knockout…it's so _boring_. I mean, we're playing with Ares today. Everyone knows the Ares kids can't shoot."

I patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. "Cover for me, Austin. I'll be back."

I didn't wait for him to answer. I needed to think. Although the cabin would have been preferable, I knew someone would come looking for me there, so I headed to the lake. Unfortunately, it was not deserted. I started to walk away, but I never had the chance.

"You know, I'm not too fond of cheese either."

My father turned to me. He looked exactly the way he had at my school, except his skin was glowing and he was wearing Ray-Bans over his blue eyes.

"How are you even here?" It was probably not the greatest way to greet him. "Hasn't the sun set already?"

"You tell me." He pointed to the sky. Sure enough, the sun was still in the sky. "I still have a few minutes, and if not…the westerners can wait."

There was a moment of silence between us.

"Where's Will?" I finally asked. "And what's this quest you're talking about? And why am I the one –"

He held up his hand, and for some reason that was enough to stop my line of questions.

"How's your mother?"

I was struck dumb. Literally. My throat closed up, my tongue became heavy, and my mind went fuzzy. I had been prepared for every question except that one.

"Fine." I bit my tongue before I could say anything else.

My mom hated my dad. She made no secret of it either. She had told me the story once when I was ten and had innocently asked, "Why don't I have a dad?"

We were vacationing in Virginia where my grandparents lived and sitting on the beach with our toes digging into the sand. The sun glared on my exposed back, and I was sure I was going to have sun burn later. My mother wore dark sunglasses as she lay with her head on the beach towel. I was thinking about how beautiful she was and how much I wished I looked like her, but besides having green eyes, we had few similar features. Her hair was dark brown where mine was blonde, and she was elegant. From the upward pout of her lips to the tilt of her nose she looked regal. Looking at her, I couldn't understand why anyone would leave her, so I asked the question. I didn't expect the answer.

She sat up, brushed the sand off of her arms, and sighed. "Your _father_," she started, seeming not to like the word "Was a boy I met on vacation in Florida. We were there for my cello competition. The man who gave me the award told me that if I kept this up, I'd be playing with Yo-Yo Ma in a year. Can you imagine _that_, Kayla? At seventeen, I would be playing with a world-renowned cellist! My parents were so excited, they decided we would stay in Florida for the rest of the month. My dad had a lot of vacation days saved up, and my mom didn't work, so it was perfect. I went to the beach every day and practiced every night. So, one day I'm lying by the hotel pool all by myself, and all of a sudden this boy is there beside me. He's a year or two older than me and I think, 'he's hot'. What else do I think, I'm sixteen! Next thing I know, I'm pregnant and I find out he's gone. It's like he's disappeared off the face of the earth! My parents, of course, are 'sad' and 'disappointed'… then you're born. A few days later he's back. He smiles at you and tells me one day mons –" that's where she stopped. She sighed as if there was something in the story that she had to hold back. "Anyway, I never see him again."

Staring at my dad, I wondered if I should tell him how much my mother hated him. I wondered if he knew, but doubted he cared. It felt like he was trying to make small talk before dropping a five-hundred ton weight on my shoulders.

"I think," he finally said "You shouldn't lie to an all-knowing god."

His arrogance irritated me. Maybe it was natural for an immortal, but it still bothered me. What right did he have to ask about my mother? He had never told her who he was. She'd had to find out from me. She'd had to work three jobs to take care of me because he'd gotten her pregnant and then abandoned her. No, I wasn't going to tell him _anything_ about my mother.

"I think you should tell me what's going on," I countered.

All right, so technically I knew how to _not_ talk to a god. They were easily offended, and when they got their revenge, it was never pleasant. But I was angry, and he was my father. Besides, if he really needed me, he wouldn't blast me to bits.

He didn't seem offended. He just shrugged like he'd been expecting it and waved his hand. In the palm of his hand, his car keys appeared. Then he took a dramatic breath like he was going to say something extremely important:

"_Go to Parnassus_

_There you will find what you seek_

_Thank me later."_

He was gone before I could tell him his last stanza only had four syllables.

That night, I dreamed of the Oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

Now, the thing to remember is that I knew Rachel the way I knew my step-dad. I said "Hi" to him if I ran into him on the way to the bathroom, but other than that we didn't have much contact. It was the same way with Rachel, so it was a bit strange to dream about her.

She stood in the Big House. She spoke a garbled prophecy I could not understand, and then her image shifted. Her bright red hair turned white and her skin wrinkled and began to decay. The longer I stared at her the more she shriveled, and then the scene changed.

Before me was the fuzzy image of some type of serpent. I couldn't see it clearly, but it invoked a fear I had never felt before. The foul smell of its breath caused the hairs on my arms to stand up, and the heat of it scales was unbearable. When I thought it was going to turn to face me the scene changed again, and I was falling _down-down-down_ into a black pit, and then I saw Will. He was dying.

"Come to me," a deep voice grumbled. "They will all come. They will all be trapped, and he will be forced to save them."

I woke up covered in sweat.

Lily was leaning over me still wearing her school uniform, and it looked like she'd gotten to camp in some sort of a rush.

I thought she was going to tell me something horrible had happened, but I overestimated my younger sister. She scrunched her nose, fixed her face in a glare, and asked; "Who destroyed my Justin Bieber poster?!"


	5. I Get Help From the Cabin of Thieves

**A/N: Sorry for not responding to any reviews. All of my FF alerts were going straight to spam, and I didn't even realize. **

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Chapter Five: I Get Help from the Cabin of Thieves

If there was one thing Lily was good at, it was cross-country running. Her mom had run track in high school, and had started training her daughter from the moment she could walk. Lily was fast for sure, but her real gift was stamina. She never got tired. When she took off after Austin, I knew he was a dead man. Her dark skin glowed in the sunlight, and even though she was three years younger and four inches shorter, the determined glint in her eyes made it clear she would not back down.

"_Bieber killer!_" She screeched, chasing after him.

She was gaining on him, and right before they passed out of sight, I was sure she tackled him.

It was almost funny, but my dream kept me from enjoying the humor of the moment. I didn't really understand most of it, but I did know that Will was in trouble. Big trouble. And that there wasn't much time left before I would no longer be able to save him.

It was time to visit the oracle; Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

Rachel lives in a cave near the edge of the camp. It's pretty ominous looking from the outside, and the entrance is blocked by a large purple curtain, but once you get inside, there's a foosball table, an HD television, and paintings everywhere. Besides being the camp Oracle, Rachel is also an artist, and a good one. Unlike me, my sister Daphne goes to see her a lot, just to chat, although I secretly thought it had less to do with Rachel and more to do with the foosball table, from her I'd learned the secrets of the Oracle's cave.

I was half-way to the cave when I heard the crunching of grass behind me. I spun around so fast my blonde hair hit me in the face, and I was met with the brightest smile I knew. The kind of smile that caused the hearts to do flip-flops over itself.

"I thought children of Hermes were supposed to be crafty. You're so loud I could've caught you in the dark." I ignored my thumping heart and answered as normally as I could.

Travis Stoll didn't answer at first. He was alone, so I assumed his brother was on look-out duty, and his smile was so bright I almost thought he wasn't here to steal from me. Not that there was any money in my current possession.

"Nice to see you too, Kayla."

"I'm broke." I told him.

I waited for his smile to drop, but it stayed.

Travis and Connor Stoll were the first people I'd met when I had come to Camp Half-Blood. They'd given me the grand tour, filled my sleeping bag with shaving cream, and permanently borrowed my bus pass. At first, the two seemed like the same person, but I began to recognize the differences. Travis was taller, and older, but he was also a Bob Dylan fan in a world where sixties protest music was unpopular unless it was sang by John Lennon (another one of my half-brothers, albeit a distant one). He was also one of the only campers that would play HORSE with the Apollo Cabin knowing he would lose, and, of course, there was his smile. It was more than the crooked grin of the Hermes Cabin; his smile literally sparkled in the light. We had a pretty long history, but I had only realized I had a crush on him the summer before. The only person I had told about it was Chase, and now I had lost him. The thought caused my heart to sink.

Travis noticed.

"What's wrong?"

Something in his eyes – which I interpreted as concern – flashed, and I had the sudden urge to tell him.

So I did.

I even told him about my meetings with my dad, and about the dreams.

"So, this is the backpack?" He pointed to the black bag on my back.

"Yeah."

"Can I-" he stopped himself, and I realized his fingers were twitching as if he was itching to see what was in the magical backpack. He restrained himself though, and kept his fingers busy by running them through his hair. "…Anyway, it sounds like you need to get to the Appalachians."

"Why is that?"

Travis sighed like I was missing something big, then he started to explain.

"So Connor and I were in the Athena Cabin looking for…it doesn't matter. Anyway, they have a map and that mountain you were talking about the Pyr-"

"-Parnassus," I corrected.

"-Whatever. Well, it's right in the Appalachians."

"Where in the Appalachians? That's a mountain range, and a big one!"

He thought about it for a moment, and then his eyes twinkled the way they always did when he thought he would have the opportunity to steal something. "I guess I'll just have to get the map for you then, Kayla."

"Normally, I wouldn't ask you to, but-"

"No need." The sparkle hadn't faded from his eyes.

He leaned over and, before I knew what he was doing, he kissed me.

"I had to steal something."

He dashed off, and I was glad because I blushed scarlet, though I was pretty sure he hadn't meant anything by it.

"_Concentrate_," I scolded myself. Then I turned back around and headed towards the cave again, promising nothing, not even Travis Stoll, would cloud my mind.

Apparently, Rachel Elizabeth Dare had been expecting me because when I walked in the cave she didn't even turn from her drawing when she said "Hi, Kayla."

It was only after she did so that I realized she had been painting with her toes.

Her jeans and her orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt were covered in paint, as was the floor, but she invited me to sit next to her.

I did so, and then I explained what had happened. I left out the monsters and Chase, but I told her about my meeting with my dad by the river, and about my dream.

She was silent for a while, but then she put down her paint brushes and folded her paint-covered legs beneath her.

"It sounds like your father gave you a quest. There's something in the mountains, something that's stirring, but I can't see it. The spirit of Delphi comes through me, but it belongs to Lord Apollo. If I can't tell what it is then maybe he's blocking it –"

"Or maybe he's lost control." I interrupted.

The story came back to me; a myth I had learned before my time at Camp Half-Blood.

"I mean…my father gained the oracle once he slayed the Python…right. What if ... what if it's possible to lose possession of it? It would explain why you're fresh out of prophecies and why my dad's so concerned about Will's quest."

"I'm not out of –" she stopped herself, and I knew I was right. "Maybe…" Rachel's voice was cautious, "Maybe…something is wrong, but I can't see it. I don't think you should go blindly into the mountains."

I had stopped listening to her.

"I don't care about my dad's quest, but I'm going to get Will." It was a bold proclamation, and I wouldn't have been surprised if a solar flare turned me to dust in seconds. "I guess I'll find out what's there when I get there."

Rachel stared at me like I was insane, but then she smiled.

"Good luck."

I didn't have to be an oracle to know I would need it.


End file.
